Social | ማህበራዊ ህይወት

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Ethiopia aims to offer foreigners stakes in some state firms

(Jan 10, 2017, (ADDIS ABABA (Reuters))--Ethiopia aims to offer foreign firms stakes in some state-owned companies to help modernise the businesses, the prime minister said on Monday in a shift from stressing state investment to drive growth.

The move would include offering a stake in state-owned Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Services Enterprise, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn told a news conference, without naming other firms or giving the size of any stakes on offer.

It was not immediately clear if the initiative would mean opening up the state-run telecommunications sector or banks, which are either owned by the government or private Ethiopian investors. Foreigners have eyed those sectors in particular.

"We are trying to privatise some equity of some of the companies we have ... It is not because of a shortage of finances, but because we want to modernise the system itself," he said in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

"When foreign companies get into these kinds of companies, they will obviously bring technologies, know-how and managerial capability," he said. Read more fromReuters »